


Musically Inclined

by Zorua_Illusion



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Signing Frisk, it's not required that you read the other one though, musical skelebros, skelebros, sort of continuation?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 06:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6107308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zorua_Illusion/pseuds/Zorua_Illusion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I mentioned once already about how the skelebros do their music thing alone, but that it was inevitable that someone would walk in on them at some point?<br/>Well, maybe not everyone walks in. More like Frisk drags them in, occasionally. But the point still stands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First

Toriel was the first. Well, technically, she was the second, but she was the first after Frisk. The human child was doing their homework when they perked up. Quickly scribbling something down, Frisk got up and pushed their ear against the wall that divided them from the skelebro’s portion of the house. Toriel looked up from where she was reading when the human child insistently grabbed her hands and pulled at them.  
“What is it, Frisk?” she asked, confused as to why Frisk was smiling and being so insistent. Frisk, as per usual, didn’t vocally answer, simply tugging at her hands once more. Giving in, Toriel quickly placed a bookmark in the page and set the book aside, standing up and straightening the light orange dress she wore as Frisk dragged her to the door that joined the two sections of the house. If you didn’t know any `better, you’d think it lead into a closet. The sounds of a trumpet and double base came through, and Toriel looked at Frisk questioningly, but still received no answer from the human. She did, however, get an answer as Frisk led her farther into the foyer and towards the living room, where she saw Sans playing the trumpet as Papyrus plucked along on a double bass. Neither brother noticed, simply continuing to do their thing with their eye sockets shut. They both jumped when Toriel and Frisk started clapping after they were very obviously done.  
“kid, you have got to stop giving us heart attacks. We don’t have the heart for it!” Sans laughed nervously.  
“HUMAN! YOU HAVE BROUGHT LADY TORIEL ON YOUR SURPRISE VISIT!” Papyrus exclaimed. “SPEAKING OF THAT, WHY ARE YOU VISITING? NOT THAT YOU’RE UNWELCOME, IT’S JUST SURPRISING!” Papyrus frantically tried to backpedal, realizing how rude that could sound. Frisk simply patted him on the back before replying via sign language.  
_Heard you. Mom was there, too. Wanted to hear more._  
The skelebros shrugged before putting their instruments away in whatever pocket dimension they stored them in. Both Toriel and Frisk were used to their actions by now, and so didn’t blink as the two instruments disappeared.  
“so, what didja want to hear, kid?” sans asked.  
Frisk frowned in thought, but couldn’t think of anything. It was Toriel who made a request.  
“I rather liked the jazz you two were playing,” she said.  
Sans turned to Papyrus, who shrugged. “More jazz for the lady then, coming right up.” Sans reached back in and pulled out a saxophone while Papyrus pulled out a viola. Through some sort of silent count off, the two began. Pretty soon, Toriel was tapping her foot as Frisk danced. Once again, through some sort of silent communication, the skelebros joined them as well as they could. Papyrus started moving around Frisk with some fancy footwork- it was actually rather impressive to see the two of them move together, though it was apparent that they had both learned their style from Mettaton with how dramatic their movements could get.  
Sans stood next to Toriel and started dancing while playing. Toriel laughed, but did not get up from where she sat. Sans took an opportunity to nudge her with his elbow, managing to continue playing. Toriel stood up, and Sans started dancing around her, trying to get her to join up. Papyrus and Frisk noticed and came over as well, and pretty soon Toriel was surrounded by dancing skeletons and her human child, all trying to get her to join in. She laughed, but soon started, first dancing with Frisk before the human child changed places with Papyrus, who took his turn for a moment or two before putting Sans in his place.  
This whole time, the two skeletons had continued to play.  
Sans and Toriel danced goofily together until the song ended, and the two brothers took a bow before putting the instruments away.  
“Oh, that was lovely. But Frisk, you have homework, do you not?” Toriel inquired.  
“yeah, squirt. Are you becoming a lazy bones like yours truly?” Sans joked. Papyrus’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.  
Frisk shook their head. _Nope! Just finished it before coming over._  
“Would you like to… ahem, ‘hang-out’ with these two as I prepare dinner?” Toriel turned to the skelebros and addressed them, “If that is okay with you two, of course. And you two are also welcome to dinner.”  
Sans shrugged. “I’m okay with it if Papyrus and the kid are. Wouldn’t want to eat up too much of their time now, would we?”  
“I AM PERFECTLY OKAY WITH THIS, SO LONG AS THE PUNS ARE KEPT BETWEEN YOU TWO,” Papyrus shouted.  
Toriel giggled before bending down and placing a kiss on Frisk’s head. “Have fun, my child.” She then head-butted the skelebros as a sign of affection before leaving.  
“WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO, HUMAN? OH! WE RECENTLY AQUIRED THE NEW CONTENT FOR SMASH BROS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO- SANS WHY ARE YOU BLUE?”


	2. The Second

Alphys was next, although hers was just because of good timing instead of Frisk.

She and Sans were old friends, but during and after the amalgamations… Alphys pretty much cut ties with everyone except Undyne and, by extent, Papyrus. The taller skeleton reintroduced her to Sans, but neither of them told Undyne nor Papyrus that they had known each other before. Alphys, however, got the feeling that Papyrus knew and just didn’t comment on their lack of acknowledgement.

She and Sans found common ground again on the surface, thanks to Frisk. Sans got back into the sciences, having his degree in quantum physics recognized during the education reform. Alphys and Sans sat together in the same class, more out of “we’re the only two monsters in this class and I swear I see at least ten humans glaring at us we need to have each other’s back” than actual companionship.

So when Alphys was complaining to Undyne about the physics homework not making much sense while Frisk was over, what she got was a determined child holding out the modified cell phone with Sans’s number already dialed and ringing.

“kid? You don’t ever call.” Sans sounded worried- which was sort of weird, as Alphys had only heard him worried about Papyrus before.

“H-hey Sans! It’s uh… Alphys…”

“oh. Gave me a heart attack there, and I don’t even have one.”

Alphys grimaced and looked at Frisk, who jabbed at the homework Alphys had spread over the table. Undyne had left to go make tea in this time.

“I-i… wanted t-to ask y-you… about the uh… h-homework for … p-physics?”

“oh yeah. Come on over, I’ll help you out. I need a sounding board, anyway, Paps is more into biology than this stuff.”

“O-okay! I c-can bring… instant noodles? A-and soda?”

“just like old times, huh? Yeah, sure. I’ll be here.” And Sans hung up.

Ever since the nostalgic homework session, the two had begun bonding over science once again. Alphys would stop over sometimes and the two would either work at the table or actually go into Sans’s shed-lab in the backyard of the dual house.

Alphys was coming over that day to run a computer program over with Sans. It was supposed to help with her most recent project- robotic limbs for humans or monsters who didn’t have them. But Alphys needed a second opinion on the math, and so she went to Sans.

She knocked, but there was no answer. She listened to see if Sans was just being lazy about it, but instead of the “come on in, it’s unlocked” (that she had gotten before), she instead heard…

Music?

It wasn’t a foreign concept- many monsters played instruments, since they really had nothing _but_ time in the Underground. If they couldn’t play an instrument, most monsters turned on MTT’s music channel. Even Undyne could play the piano, and had continued the practice on the surface. Radios were possibly the most commonly bought items bought by monsters up on the Surface, and the skelebros were no exception to the norm.

But… this wasn’t like the smooth, plucking melodies Undyne would play on the piano, so different from her usual style. No… this was harsher, the low braying of a trombone combined with what sounded like a drum. The music was extremely loud, loud enough to drown out her knocks and probably her voice, too. So, after a minute’s debate, she tried the door. If they didn’t want anyone in, they’d lock it, right? They usually locked their door anyway, so when the door opened with little resistence, Alphys was surprised. She hesitantly walked down towards the living room, shutting the door behind her.

She stopped in surprise and awe as she saw Sans blasting away on a trombone as Papyrus beat on a drum almost as tall as he was. She had figured they had just left the radio on too loudly- both brothers could be considered guilty of doing so before, so it wasn’t a far stretch. The song ended shortly after she entered, and Papyrus jumped a little as he saw the lizard monster.

“AH! DOCTOR ALPHYS! WE AH… DIDN’T HEAR YOU COME IN!” Papyrus said nervously, sweating a little.

“what’cha need, Alphys?” Sans asked. Alphys didn’t know for sure where his trombone went, but if she had to guess, it would be the pocket dimension both brothers seemed to have nearby them. He appeared to be a bit sweaty too, but he seemed to be less rattled than his brother.

“I-I didn’t know you could play!” she squeaked instead, going red as she realized she didn’t answer the question Sans posed. The shorter skeleton shrugged it off, used to Alphys’s personality.

“we don’t advertise it.” Papyrus left the room at this point, figuring the two were going to nerd together.

“I AM GOING TO VISIT THE HUMAN AND LADY TORIEL, BROTHER! HAVE FUN!” He left, and Alphys heard the door slam.

“W-Why not? Y-you both are r-really good!”

Sans shrugged. “It’s a me and Papyrus thing… though our friends seem to be walking in on us recently. I wouldn’t be surprised if Undyne’s next. Anyway, what did you come over for?” Alphys felt that the subject switch and tone were the end of the conversation. She came over for a different reason, anyway.

“O-oh, right! I uh… wrote a p-program to stimulate the r-robotic limbs I was working o-on… but I think m-my math is off, and I-I need a second opinion…”

Sans nodded. “Ah. I’ll look it over for you. Go ahead to the table… you want anything? I think we still have noodles from last time…”

“I-if it’s not too much t-trouble… I brought s-soda.” She withdrew two cans from her coat pocket. “T-though we may w-want to open them over t-the sink…”

Sans shrugged, walking into the kitchen. Nothing more was said about the two brothers’ music inclinations.

Nothing else was needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meant to post this three hours ago. Oops. Ah well, it's here now, right? ... Not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter either. Then again, I already said that I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing in general, so.  
> There's not really a specific song that's mentioned outright, but the song I was thinking of was Sandstorm. (I think. There's actually and Undertale Vine of it, with Sans playing the trombone to the music and then the blue heart coming in for the beat. I can't remember the title though.)


	3. The Third

Sans’s prediction proved to be wrong; it wasn’t Undyne who was next to walk in. It was Asgore who, like Toriel, was dragged in by Frisk.

Asgore visited the human child throughout the week, often times babysitting the child if all three of the other residents were busy with their various schedules by request of Frisk. Much of the peace keeping between Toriel and Asgore was done by the human child. It was Frisk who bargained about Asgore’s visits, though “bargained” is probably used incorrectly. It was more of “I’m going to visit him anyway so you might as well let it happen so that way you at least have some control over the matter” (signed far more politely) that made Toriel begrudgingly allow Asgore to visit Frisk, so long as they stayed in the living room portion of the house or stayed in the backyard. Anything else would either have to be run by Toriel or run _by_ Toriel.

Anyway, today was just a visit. Toriel was busy in the kitchen (though she may well be just hiding away in there, it probably doesn’t take that much attention to make casserole) as Frisk and Asgore sat and drew at the coffee table. Well, Frisk was at the coffee table. They had pulled out a sturdy piece of cardboard that would allow Asgore to draw more comfortably than he would at the too-short table.

He was in the middle of drawing his old garden in the Underground when he first heard it: strains of a classical duet whispered through the room. He figured Frisk had turned on some music, so he was surprised when the grinning human tapped insistently on the cardboard. He set it aside and allowed the child to drag him to a door that he knew led to the skelebro’s portion of the split house.

“Frisk, child, I need to-” Frisk opened the door, signing _I’ll take care of it_ , before shoving him through the door and closing it behind him. He stood there a moment, unsure of what to do until the human child came back and took him by the hand once more, dragging him through the foyer towards the living room.

From the entry way, Asgore stood in surprise as he watched and listened to the two skeletons play. Papyrus was on the cello while Sans played the keyboard. Both skeletons had their eyes closed, very obviously listening to each other and themselves. There was no sheet music in sight; it was just the two skeletons playing either from memory or whatever felt right.

Asgore was impressed. He knew that Sans played the trombone (at one point, the two had been decent friends), but he didn’t know that Sans’s younger brother was so talented, nor that Sans could play anything _but_ the trombone.

The skeleton bros were not the only ones startled by Frisk’s abrupt clapping. As Papyrus and Asgore came back to themselves, Sans sighed in a fond and exasperated manner.

“kid, you are going to be the death of us. And we’re already skeletons,” he joked.

Frisk rolled their eyes, but Asgore chuckled. Sans’s grin became a little more forced as he took in Asgore.

“sup king fluffybuns? Kid drag you here?”

“Yes, actually, and I am quite glad they did. I was unaware you both were so talented!”

Sans blushed a bit blue while Papyrus blushed a bit orange at the praise. “THANK YOU, YOUR MAJESTY!” Papyrus said.

“I am a king no longer, Papyrus; there is no need to address me as such.” Asgore wasn’t really sure as to why he kept correcting the skeleton. It had been years since he had abandoned his title for anything other than the Human-Monster Assembly, but old habits die hard, he supposed. He never bothered correcting Sans- the skeleton used the nickname in a friendly, care-free manner as opposed to authoritative respect.

“thanks,” Sans said shortly before turning to Frisk. “really, kid. you got to stop surprising us like this. You’re wearing us down to the _bone._ ”

Frisk giggled a little bit, a sound that brightened the whole room before signing that Toriel wanted them back as soon as the skeletons were done playing. They took Asgore by the hand, the two waving at the skeleton brothers before disappearing back behind the door to continue drawing.

Sans blinked and turned to Papyrus, who had already put the cello away.

“AT THIS RATE, I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF METTATON WAS NEXT,” he commented lightly. Sans snorted- an odd, high-pitched whistling through his nasal cavity- and replied “neither would I bro.”

Let it be said that neither brother is known for their future sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel more like I went over the dynamic between Toriel, Asgore, and Frisk than them actually discovering the skelebros' music inclination. Oh well.  
> Again, there's no song listed by name, and most of these can be assigned to anything, but each one has been inspired by a different song. This chapter's song was Moonlight Sonata.


	4. The Last

Undyne was, funnily enough, the last of their friends to walk in.

But this is Undyne. Of course she didn’t just walk in. Oh no.

She barged in, kicking down the door (literally) with a screech of “PAP-” before she stopped herself, hearing something odd.

Through some miracle, the noisy break-in didn’t disturb the two brothers in playing. Undyne walked down the hall, stopping in surprise as she saw Papyrus on the violin and Sans sitting at a keyboard.

She, like Asgore, knew that Sans could play trombone- Papyrus talked about his brother plaguing his life with incidental music enough, and she had been subjected to it as well when she hung out at their house- but she was unaware of his skill in other instruments. Papyrus had once mentioned he enjoyed playing a string instrument, but the two had begun sparring soon after, so the subject was dropped.

The piece they were playing this time was quiet and almost sounded like the old music box statue in Waterfall, but the actual song reminded her of Snowdin. She shivered at the memory of the cold elements, but she did enjoy the song.

She waited until the brothers finished before clapping. Sans turned toward her before letting his face fall onto his keyboard, making a horrible clashing of notes that made Papyrus jump and notice Undyne.

“UNDYNE! WE DIDN’T HEAR YOU COME IN! … SOMEHOW…” Papyrus had looked past the fish-like warrior and down the hall, where he could very obviously see that Undyne had broken the door down.

“You nerds didn’t tell me you could play this good!” Undyne said, carefully crossing the room and giving a noogie to Papyrus.

“PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON, ESPECIALLY WHEN SAID SKELETON HAS A VERY DELICATE WOODEN INSTRUMENT IN HIS HAND,” Papyrus requested. Undyne let him go, and the two brothers put the instruments back in their pocket dimensions. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Sans.

“Wait. Like, seven years ago, the piano puzzle in Waterfall was solved… for no apparent reason. No one knew who did it, but the dog didn’t go there for like, three weeks.”

“what’s your point?” Sans asked, eye and hand faintly glowing as he propped the door back into the frame via his magic.

“That was you, wasn’t it?” Undyne interrogated.

Sans shrugged. “Might’ve been. Can’t remember.”

Undyne groaned. “You’re hopeless.”

“WHY DID YOU COME OVER, UNDYNE?” Papyrus asked, sensing the conversation was over.

“OH YEAH! Apparently there’s some convention that Alphys wants to go to, and it has a bunch of sci-fi and anime stuff _combined._ She wanted to know if you two wanted to go.”

The conversation continued normally after that. Well, as normally as it can with Undyne.

 

The brothers never stopped playing their instruments. Occasionally, if Frisk did the puppy eyes on both of them, they’d put on a little concert, though it never really lasted longer than two or three songs. All of their friends enjoyed the brief events when they were present, but they never pushed either brother into performing.

Singing, however, is an entirely different matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one actually does have a particular song: Snowy.Or is it Snowdin Town in the OST? I can't remember. But yeah- it's Snowdin's Theme, because as much as the skeletons don't miss the Underground... there was an appeal to that town, and they never forget where they came from before the surface.  
> Toriel's song, in case I didn't mention, was Jazz Police. My school's jazz band was playing it as I was waiting for orchestra to start. Fitting, isn't it?  
> I might write another story after this. It... sort of depends on how crazy my homework gets. These next few weeks are going to be busy with volunteer hours, graduation preparation, my birthday, campus visits, etc. It gets hectic real quick, but I'll try to squeeze some writings in here and there.

**Author's Note:**

> If I didn't post this now I was never going to. I'm... not entirely sure how I feel about it.  
> Anyway song list given at the end of the story b/c I'm still new to AO3 and have no idea how multi-chaptered fics work. (I usually stick to one-shots. It's what I'm actually good at.)
> 
> ... Most of this was written with my school's jazz band/ concert band in the background. Fitting, right?


End file.
